Chicago's New Area Code 872 Connects Today

Brendan O'malley just found out he has to re-program his address book.  " I have 150 to 200 contacts! It's a pain!" O'malley says.

Call it growing pains.

As area codes 7-7-3 and 3-1-2 run out, a new code is being added to the Chicagoland area. It's 8-7-2.

Starting today, all cell phone users must dial the area code with the phone number in order to be connected. Land line users must dial one, the area code and the phone number.
Any contacts in your address book that only have seven numbers, like Brendan O'malley's, will need to be changed to have all ten digits.

O'malley says he might have to change his contacts, but he's never changing his number. "That's who i am, that's my number that's how they reach me," he says.

In the past 20 years the metropolitan Chicago area has gone from having just three area codes to eleven.

If you need some help remembering the newest one, 8-7-2 spells USA on the dial pad.